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Top US health officials said Tuesday that the seven-day average daily new coronavirus cases fell to 13,277, the first time it has fallen below 15,000 since the pandemic’s first weeks in March 2020.
The daily average is down to a third of the average number of cases seen just three weeks ago. Just five months ago, the United States was seeing 15,000 cases every 90 minutes.
Barely more than 10,000 new cases were reported Monday, said Dr. Rochelle Walinsky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She noted that deaths and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have also continued to decline rapidly.
Walinsky credited the more than 300 million vaccination shots that have already been administered across the country to the encouraging numbers.
“It gives me a lot of hope,” she said. “Every week there is more and more data to prove the effect of vaccination on preventing this disease and getting us out of this epidemic.”
However, experts say the summer increase could be seen in states that lift restrictions despite lagging behind in vaccination rates.
“Threats remain,” warned Andy Slavett, who is leaving his position Wednesday as the White House’s top adviser on the COVID-19 response. “We must push more so that more Americans can return to the normal lives and the peace of mind that comes with vaccination.”
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“The US government is working hard to avoid wasting vaccine doses, but the number one priority remains making the vaccine available to everyone,” Slavett said. “Some of the waste is insurmountable.” Governor Mike DeWine warned in Ohio, 200,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine will expire in June 23 if not used.
This week, Spain began accepting fully vaccinated Americans, along with unvaccinated minors. Austria said it will let Americans in as long as they have at least one round of their vaccine.
Two-thirds of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams were able to ease coronavirus protocols after four additional clubs qualified and raised the total to 20 franchises to reach 85% of vaccinations for players and other field workers.
The story continues
Carnival Cruise Line said it will require passengers to complete their COVID-19 vaccinations two weeks before boarding the company’s first US flights after reopening, departing from Texas in July.
Hawaii Governor David Ige has extended an eviction moratorium he implemented during the coronavirus pandemic for another two months.
Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 33.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 597,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: more than 173.5 million cases and more than 3.7 million deaths. More than 139.78 million Americans have been fully vaccinated — 42.1% of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
📘 WHAT TO READ: The COVID-19 pandemic has hardly been recorded as a snapshot as humanity has continued to emit carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere. Read the full story.
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Pfizer’s Test Vaccine on Young Children
Pfizer released new details Tuesday about the progress of COVID-19 vaccine trials in children, showing that they have completed early testing and are moving forward with lower-dose trials in younger children. Children are less likely to get a serious case of COVID-19 than adults, so drug companies are trying to minimize the side effects of a vaccine while maximizing the benefits. Currently, Pfizer, which collaborates with German biotech BioNTech, is testing its vaccine at lower doses in elementary students than in teens and still lower doses in younger children.
Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, which also make authorized COVID-19 vaccines, are testing their shots on children, too.
“Karen Weintraub”
“Joints for jabs” became Washington State policy
The Washington State Liquor and Hemp Board said this week that it will allow state-licensed cannabis dealers to “provide a single joint to adult consumers who receive a COVID-19 vaccination at the in-store vaccination clinic.”
The program is the latest stimulus in the state’s drive to at least partially vaccinate 70% of adults in the state by the end of the month.
Going this far would allow most of the remaining coronavirus-driven restrictions to be lifted across the state, Governor Jay Inslee said. Inslee unveiled a “Shot of a Lifetime” campaign meant to promote vaccination in the state, the board previously approved free beer, wine or cocktails for those vaccinated by June 30.
As buildings reopen, Legionnaires’ disease lurks
Hotels and office buildings are reopening after hibernating for a year or more, and building architects are watching Legionnaires sick.
Bacteria often become a problem when they sit in stagnant, lukewarm, unchlorinated water and multiply, said Michelle Swanson, a professor of microbiology at the University of Michigan and an expert in bacteria. This may be a problem in some closed buildings where water has not traveled through pipes since the pandemic began.
“It is almost certain that we will be at risk of more cases of Legionnaires’ disease after the shutdown,” said Swanson, a member of the National Academies of Sciences committee that wrote a report in 2020 on managing Legionella bacteria in water. systems.
Elizabeth’s way
Report says Wuhan lab leak hypothesis is ‘reasonable’
A report on the origins of COVID-19 from a US government laboratory said the hypothesis claiming the coronavirus leaked from a Wuhan lab is “reasonable” and deserves further investigation. The study, which was prepared in May 2020, was received by the State Department in October 2020, when the department investigated the origin of the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the classified document.
The report comes as questions grow about whether the virus was caused by an accident in a Chinese laboratory or spread through other means. President Joe Biden ordered the intelligence community to report on the assets within months.
Novavax will soon apply for emergency authorization in the US
A large trial of the Novavax vaccine is nearing completion in the US, and “We expect to apply for permission in the UK, US and Europe in the third quarter,” Head of Research Dr. Gregory Glenn told the audience at a recent webinar. NPR, meaning from July to September. Novavax is one of five companies that have received significant amounts of money from the federal government to develop and/or manufacture COVID-19 vaccines.
In the UK, the company reported that its vaccine protected against all severe diseases and was 96% better against any disease than the original form of COVID-19, and 86% effective against the B.1.1.7 variant first seen in the UK The vaccine was effective by 55% in a smaller trial among HIV-negative participants in South Africa, where another type, called B.1.351, was prevalent.
Prisons were emptied in the epidemic. Should they stay that way?
By the middle of last year, the prison population across the country was at its lowest level in more than two decades, according to a new report published Monday by the Vera Institute of Justice, whose researchers compiled population numbers from about half the country’s population. 3,300 prisons to make national estimates.
According to the report, shared with The Marshall Project and The Associated Press, the number of people incarcerated in county jails across the country has fallen by about a quarter, or 185,000, as counties aggressively work to release people held on low-level charges, dramatically lowering arrest rates. Court operations were suspended.
But in most places, the decline was short-lived: From mid-2020 to March 2021, the number of people in prison awaiting trial or serving short sentences for minor crimes rose again by more than 70,000, to nearly 650,000. .
“Reducing the prison population across the country is feasible,” said Jacob Kang-Brown, a senior research associate at the Vera Institute for Justice and author of the new report. “We’ve seen a decrease in big cities, small towns, rural counties and suburbs, but the increase we’re seeing is worrying.”
Contributing: Mike Stuka, USA Today; Associated Press.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID cases continue to decline but summer may bring sudden spikes: Updates
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